Erik Ko is the Chief of Operations for comic book studio, Udon (ran from Canada) and is probably best known for his ties with Capcom and the Street Fighter comic series. Being a huge Street Fighter fan, when I learned that Capcom was going to have a new series come out
(which would be the first since the shortly lived Malibu Comics SF run), I became extremely hopeful. When the first issue came out in the summer of 2003, I knew that I was looking at my new favorite comic book series.

E3 2005: Erik Ko and Paul Gale

When I was at E3 2004, one of my goals was to meet Erik Ko or anyone at Udon, because I wanted to thank them personally for putting me in Street Fighter Issue #7. I’ll never forget the day I went to get my two copies of SF (Cover A and B) and when I got home to read and finish it, I flipped the page and was simply overwhelmed to see three pictures of me in my Shotokan Karate Gi performing some of Ryu’s moves as well as what I wrote to Udon. Back to show…when I got to Capcom’s booth and asked for Erik and company, the Capcom representative looked for me because I told them my story, but instead of someone from Udon, Taki Enomoto (Capcom’s main man in charge of liscening out their characters) came out and told me that Udon left back to Canada. It worked out ok though, because Taki and I became great friends and I ended up getting to meet Erik in 2005, thanks to Taki’s introduction.

E3 2009: Erik Ko and Paul Gale

It was really cool getting to meet Erik and I thanked him for putting me in the comic and said how much I appreciate Udon’s attention to detail in capturing the SF universe properly. He even gave and signed for me a special edition of the first trade paperback of Street Fighter and introduced me to one of Udon’s artists, Joe Vriens.

E3 2010: Erik Ko and Paul Gale

The next time Erik and I met was in Capcom’s VIP section at E3 in 2009 and by this time he was introducing me to plenty of more Capcom folk and actually knew about me being in Street Fighter IV as a background character in the European Cruise Ship Stage. I thought that was pretty cool of him. And then to make things even better, in 2010’s E3, Erik introduced me to the president of Sota Toys (they make really awesome Street Fighter action figures). Man, thanks Erik for continuing to pump out such amazing work in the Street fighter comic book series, as well as for your and the rest of Udon’s efforts in the art books, Dark Stalkers books, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom endings, and more. Your motivating and positive attitude will surely push Udon to even greater heights in the future. Here’s to seeing what you cook up next.